NAZI PEACE MOVES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 2, 27 September 1939, Page 8

NAZI PEACE MOVES

Persistent attempts are being made by the Nazi piopagandist organization to create the idea that the Polish defeat has deprived the Allies of their justification for carrying on the war with Germany. In one broadcast it is claimed that the war is over as far as German aspirations are concerned, that Britain and France had no real cause for war, and Germany had no quarrel with Britain and France. The object, of course, is to put Britain and France in the wrong by alleging that they are causing needless suffering and disorganization when there is nothing to be gained by continuing hostilities. The Nazi leaders seem to be incapable of realizing that this is a war for the vindication of a principle. As has already been pointed out, the Polish authorities fully understood before hostilities commenced that the Allies could give no local assistance; that their armies might be attacked and defeated by overwhelming numbers—already mobilized on the frontier—and their country over-run. The choice for them was between defending their country or yielding to the kind of extortionate demands which, as in the case of Czechoslovakia, would have ended with the disappearance of Poland as a sovereign State. [They elected to fight, and have fought gallantly and well. Plow long they could have prolonged their resistance had it not been for the intervention of Russia it is impossible to say. Even now, though the nation has politically collapsed, the last remnant of the heroic defenders is still fighting desperately in defence of then capital city, while isolated sections in other parts of the country are contesting the advance of both German and Russian foices. But the major issue, in which Britain and Prance have gone to war, remains to be determined. Though Poland is lost for the time being, the cause must eventually be won, or democracy will be destroyed. The issue is whether any powerful and well-armed State should be allowed to .terrorize its weaker neighbours; to rob them of their territory and political rights; to make false promises and worthless agreements. This- issue has nothing whatever to do with the merits or demerits of the Versailles Treaty, or the grievances real or fancied, of Germany under that treaty. It has to do with the principle of law and order throughout civilization, with the protection of the weak against oppression by the strong, with the sanctitv ot pledges and treaties.